Judy Holdsworth holding the picture of her meeting HM The Queen in Cambridge during the 1953-54 Royal Tour. Photo / Supplied
Judy Holdsworth holding the picture of her meeting HM The Queen in Cambridge during the 1953-54 Royal Tour. Photo / Supplied
Luke East of Te Awamutu runs an initiative called The Royals and The Waikato Project, which has worked with local museums, the National Archives, Te Papa, the Royal Collection Trust and other organisations to document and celebrate the Waikato's history of royal visits.
On the morning of Friday, September 9, Kiwis awoke to the devastating news that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, after 96 years and just over 70 years on the throne, had died peacefully at her beloved Balmoral Castle.
In Waipā, like everywhere, residents mourned the loss of their steadfast sovereign. Some of those who had met, or seen, the Queen spoke to me about their memories of her and shared their feelings with me on that saddest of days.
Deputy mayor Liz Stolwyk recalls that she was working as a tour guide in the UK in the late 1990s and through a friend she ended up being invited to the Queen's staff Christmas Party where she had the pleasure of meeting the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, which she describes as a highlight of her life.
She remembers the sense of humour of the Queen and Duke and how they found it fascinating and somewhat ironic that a Kiwi was a tour guide in their neck of the woods.
Liz notes that for her entire life she's watched the Queen's "incredible leadership" from afar and remembers her as "a lovely and wonderful woman" and mourns her with real sadness.
Waipā District councillor and former Te Awamutu RSA president, Lou Brown, met the Queen as a young boy when she visited Te Awamutu on New Year's Day 1954. She opened the then-Post Office building (now Paterson Burn and House of Travel), upon which the plaque celebrating her Platinum Jubilee will soon be installed.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh on the podium in front of the Te Awamutu Post Office in 1954 with Te Awamutu Mayor Cliff Jacobs and his wife Veda. Photo / Te Awamutu Museum
He remembers being given a small bronze medal with a blue ribbon on that day to commemorate the royal tour and says that is a memory he has carried with him always.
Lou says her inspiring leadership has bound the Commonwealth together over the past 70 years.
He also recalled meeting King Charles III at Turangawaewae Marae where he and two other veterans watched a ceremony and regatta before being taken to lunch.
One of the veterans had served in a unit for which King Charles was then the patron and so Lou and the other veterans had the pleasure of a conversation lasting about five minutes with the then-Prince of Wales.
He recalls our new King as being friendly, warm and "very knowledgeable and interested in our stories".
Judy Holdsworth, formerly of Cambridge, was the only Brownie in New Zealand to officially meet the Queen during the 1953-4 royal tour, during which she presented the Queen with a bouquet outside the Cambridge Town Hall.
She recalls being selected to represent the Girl Guide movement because the Queen had been a Guide and as she was close in age to the young Prince Charles it was she who was chosen.
Judy also remembers that the Queen's outfits were pre-selected and organisers informed so florists could make arrangements that did not clash with Her Majesty's attire.
She says she feels "very sad" that the Queen has died and remembers her as "a wonderful woman who put public service above all else".
Debra Morrissey, who arranged the official New Zealand gift for the birth of Prince George (a woollen shawl spun by Cambridge woman Cynthia Read), recalls being dressed in her "Sunday best" when "Nana took me down the drive to wave at her car as she drove through Auckland".
Kihikihi Town Board chairman Gus Maunder meets Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh on New Year's Day, 1954 during the Royal Visit to Te Awamutu. Photo / Te Awamutu Museum
"I will always remember this smiling lady waving back out of the window of the car."
She met the late Duke of Edinburgh a number of times and her eldest son "planted the first tree of the children's forest on Motutapu with him".
She says she will miss the Queen but might have her eye on another royal gift as she imagines "presenting King Charles III with organic wool socks".
Other residents gathered at Old St John's for a midday prayer service to mourn the Queen, where the bell tolled 70 times in recognition of Her Majesty's long reign, with the church staying open until 5pm for people to pay their own respects through prayer.
The Bishop of Waikato and Taranaki, Philip Richardson, recalled having "the opportunity to meet and speak with her and was struck, as many others have said, by her detailed knowledge of New Zealand and her concern for the life of ordinary New Zealanders" and by her "sense of service and duty was driven by a deep personal faith in Jesus Christ who she humbly sought to follow".
Waipā mayor Jim Mylchreest said the district "will be feeling a deep sense of loss" as well as shock and genuine sadness.
The council has announced that condolence books will be available for the public to sign from Monday onwards and that they are considering community events of remembrance.
"Her Majesty served us impeccably and with remarkable steadfastness for the past seven decades, she leaves an extraordinary legacy and her inspiring leadership will undoubtedly be sorely missed here and around the world."
